The Board of Governors of the Japan Wrestling Association, after reviewing tape of the JWA Trio Tournament Semi-Finals, have ordered the following re-match: Baba, Jumbo, and Misawa vs Tenryu, Hara, and Kawada

Keiji Mutoh and Thunder Yamada vs Kuniaki Kobayashi and Black Tiger (for the right to face The Fantastics on February 14th)

February 14th, in Yokohama, airing live on Asahi TV:

The Fantastics vs (The winner of Keiji Mutoh and Thunder Yamada vs Kuniaki Kobayashi and Black Tiger)(if the Fantastics win, they get a shot at Riki Choshu and Rusher Kimura for the JWA Tag Titles in Tokyo on the 24th).

Inspired by the success of similar events in the WWF and UWF recently, JWA is proud to present the first everJWA Rumble Match.

Wow! Those are some stacked cards! I'm loving these Rumble matches. A No DQ Blood elimination match! Ok I'm sold.

The no DQ match is a big one for us. If it goes over well, maybe Baba will allow more matches like that in JWA moving forward. That would give us a greater degree of flexibility in working with guest wrestlers from overseas.

Whoever wins that opener in Fukuoka on February 4th, The Fantastics will have their hands full!

Yep. If they want a title shot in JWA, they will have to earn it.

That 6-man AWA challenge match looks like a lot of fun. A Japanese Rumble is an interesting idea. I wonder how the fans there would receive something like that.

I like the idea of British Catch style vs Gotch-influenced UWF style. I hope I can do that mach justice when I write it up.

I enjoyed reading Kevin and LowBlow's Rumble matches too much. I had to give it a try myself. Again, hopefully I can do it justice.

Both teams fought hard to earn the honour of facing the Fantastics on the JWA Rumble show. Mutoh and Yamada used speed, athleticism, and technical wrestling. Kobayashi and Black Tiger countered with hard strikes and blatant cheating. Yamada had a very nice “Face in Peril” segment and the hot tag to Mutoh drew a good pop from the crowd. Unfortunately, Mutoh’s revenge got cut off when Kobayashi poked him in the eyes, setting up a tag to Rocco and a Black Tiger Bomb for the finish.

Dos Caras and Shiro Koshinaka vs Masa Fuchi and Samson Fuyuki

Fuchi and Fuyuki tried to use similar cheating tactics to win their match, but the superior experience and ring savvy of Dos Caras and Koshinaka allowed them to turn the tables. This enraged Masa Fuchi, and in his anger he made a crucial mistake, getting trapped in the Baba Corporation team’s corner. A series of hip attacks from Koshinaka set up a Flying Cross Body from Dos Caras that pinned Fuchi to end the match.

Super Strong Machine vs Anoaro Atisanoe

Atisanoe and Hirata fought a hard-hitting, clean, back and forth battle that saw several momentum changes and a couple of close near-falls. Umanosuke Ueda and Tatsutoshi Goto came out to ringside to tip the odds in Atisanoe’s favour, but an ironic “Malfunction at the Junction” spot gave Super Strong Machine the advantage instead. After Atisanoe crashed into Goto, he fell victim to a Machine DDT as Sumo Machine and Very Tall Machine rushed to ringside to prevent Ueda and Goto from interfering to prevent the pinfall. Atisanoe didn’t look very happy, but he walked to the back with his teammates without incident.

The younger wrestlers started out and they went back and forth, but Choshu interfered every time Chono gained the slightest advantage. A few minutes of watching this was enough to set Fujinami off, and he went after Choshu with fury in his eyes. As the ref was struggling to break that up, Masa Fuchi ran down to ringside. Apparently still angry after losing his match, he charged into the ring shoved Kensuke aside, and nailed Chono with a pair of Backdrop Suplexes behind the referee’s back. Fuchi rolled out of the ring and charged off into the crowd. The referee, having managed to separate Fujinami and Choshu turned around just in time to see Kensuke roll Chono up for the pin.

The rules of the match are fairly simple: If the ref catches you bleeding, you are out of the match.

Eliminated wrestlers were allowed to remain at ringside. Referee Verne Siebert was inside the ring and was the main official when it came to making calls on elimination. Kyohei Wada was tasked with maintaining order outside the ring.

The first elimination came quickly, as Hiro Hase got caught in the Choshu’s Army corner and Umanosuke Ueda carved up his forehead with a foreign object. Eliminated, but still at ringside, Hase grabbed a spike from under the ring and used it to bloody the first member of the opposing team to be tossed outside. That turned out to be Tatsutoshi Goto. Ueda then went after Yatsu and there was a long struggle while Yatsu defended himself from the foreign object attack. A brawl erupted, and Big John Nord managed to grab the object out of Ueda’s hands. Nord went after Rusher Kimura and managed to open a small cut, but Phil Hickerson wiped the blood away with a towel before the ref could see it. Things spilled out of the ring, with Yatsu and Hase going after Ueda while Goto and Kimura went after Nord. Inside the ring, Cactus Jack and Phil Hickerson went toe to toe, exchanging hard punches to the head. Cactus busted Hickerson open, but the quick-thinking Tennessean wiped the blood from his own forehead onto Foley’s face, and Verne Siebert called both men eliminated. Nord and Ueda both fell victim to the double team attacks outside and also got eliminated. That left Rusher Kimura and Yoshiaki Yatsu as the last men standing. Yatsu threw a nasty elbow at Rusher’s forehead, and his cut from earlier in the match opened right up. However, Kimura “accidentally” ran into referee Verne Siebert and knocked him out of the ring. As soon as Kyoei Wada came into the ring to check on things, Kimura rolled outside. Once again, Hickerson tried to wipe the blood away with a towel. Nord the Barbarian put a stop to that by hurling his body into both men, knocking them over. Cactus Jack then climbed up on the ring apron and ran off at full speed, dropping a huge elbow on Rusher. Finally, Hase picked Kimura up and threw him back into the ring. Wada saw the blood, and eliminated Kimura. There was a stare-down in the ring after the match, but Siebert and Kyohei somehow managed to maintain order.

In contrast to the wild brawling of the previous match, this was a battle of two highly technical styles: The British Catch Wrestling style exemplified by Adams, Taylor, and particularly Jones (who was trained by Billy Robinson, and who was in turn William Regal’s trainer), and the Japanese UWF style, exemplified by the JWA team. Fujiwara trained under the legendary Karl Gotch, and Takada and Funaki were both trained by Fujiwara.

The bout started out cleanly, but after a while it became apparent that the Japanese team had a clear advantage in the striking department, and the British Bullies started to cut corners in an attempt to re-gain the momentum. This set off the notoriously grumpy Fujiwara, who absolutely clobbered Adams and Taylor with vicious head-butts, busting both men open the hard way and knocking them dizzy. He then allowed Taylor to get back to his corner, and tagged his protégé Funaki into the ring to face Marty Jones. The much younger Funaki gained an early advantage and earned a close near-fall with a Roundhouse Kick, and almost forced the English fighter to tap out to an Ankle Lock, but Jones fought back bravely and eventually caught Funaki in a Cross-Face Chicken Wing. Fujiwara made no move to break up the hold, and indicated with his eyes that Takada shouldn’t interfere either. Adams and Taylor also stayed in their corners, recovering.

Funaki managed to escape, but Jones stayed on top of him and managed to hit a Belly-to-Belly Piledriver. Once again, Funaki’s partners made no move to break up the pin, and this time it cost them the match. Fujiwara, however, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed rather pleased that Funaki had fought well against a tough veteran like Marty Jones.

So, the film revealed that Jumbo had, in fact, illegally pulled on Tenryu’s tights to secure the pin in their match on January 24th. As a result, the JWA Board of Governors decided that there should be a re-match, with the winner facing off against The Machines to determine the Tournament winner and new JWA Trios Champions on February 24th.

All of the wrestlers were pretty poker-faced as this one started out. Nobody seemed particularly angry or embarrassed. Jumbo, however, was clearly pushing as the match went on, apparently eager to make up for his faux pas by winning the match by himself. Of course, that led to some mistakes and Jumbo ate a couple of near-falls before finally gaining control with a huge Lariat on Hara around the 20-minute mark. Jumbo then tagged in Misawa and instructed him to hold Hara up for a double-team move. Tsuruta ran full speed into the ropes and came flying at Hara with an attempted Knee Pat. However, Hara moved at the last second, throwing Misawa into the path of danger. Tsuruta’s knee hit Misawa right on the chin, knocking him flat. Hara quickly tossed Jumbo out of the ring and covered Misawa for the one…two…THREE!!

Very exciting card. The blood elimination match was lots of fun even if it's out of place in this setting. Heels winning the opener makes a lot of sense. I really dug the AWA challenge match, and Jumbo blowing it for his team by pushing too hard was really good as well.

I love the way you set up Japan with the graphics and such. It is a great way to present the product with some notable US wrestlers and the influx of awesome Japanese talent. I personally don't know if it would work to have some death match stuff but I don't think that shows up till the 90s right? I always loved the explosion matches.

Regardless Japan continues to make waves. Once WrestleMania concludes we should talk about some WWF talent coming over to get some more exposure.

In the little that I have seen, Japan always seemed so creative to me with their in ring stuff and you do a great job of that. The No DQ Blood Elimination Match is a great example of that. Keep up all the hard work.

The No DQ Blood elimination match was insane! Love Hickerson and his towel spots LOL. Really liked the AWA Challenge match. Very technical and hard hitting The main event was great! Poor Jumbo just cant catch a break. Your matches are so realistic, great job!

The blood elimination match was lots of fun even if it's out of place in this setting.

I personally don't know if it would work to have some death match stuff but I don't think that shows up till the 90s right? I always loved the explosion matches.

Well... it's true that Onita didn't start up FMW until 1989... but...

No offense to you fine gentlemen or to anyone who might have agreed with you, but thinking that hardcore wrestling didn't come to Japan until '89 is a little like believing that Stephanie McMahon invented women's wrestling or that nobody ever slammed Andre the Giant until Hulk Hogan did it at WMIII.

The story of Pro Wrestling in Japan begins as the story of Rikidozan. Among the key matches that made Rikidozan into an icon, the matches that made Puroresu a true phenomenon in Japan, were a pair of blood-baths fought way back in 1962, vs Freddie Blassie. One in America, where Rikidozan beat Blassie for the WWA Title in the Olympic Auditorium, and a rematch in Japan (in the actual JWA) a month later. Blassie used to file his teeth into points and draw blood by biting his opponents. He was known and feared in japan as a wrestling vampire. The legend is that three people had heart attacks and died while watching the Rikidozan vs Blassie match on a TV that had been set up in a public space in Tokyo.

From Rikidozan vs Blassie in the 60s, through the legendary Funks vs Sheik and Abdullah series in the 1970s, through that unforgettable Dump vs Chigusa Hair match in '85, blood-bath matches have a long and honorable tradition at the top of the cards and among the greatest matches in puroresu history.

And it wasn't just an occasional Main Event Spectacle, either. Umanosuke Ueda (who is a member of "my" JWA roster) had a long-running tag team with Tiger Jeet Singh They carried (respectively) a kendo stick and a sword to the ring, and brutalized opponents. From the late 70s throught he mid-80s they rarely lost except by DQ. Though they are pretty much neglected by western Puroresu fans, the team were a a major factor in the roster-raiding wars between New Japan and All Japan, and the first team to win tag team titles in both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (the NWA North American Tag Team Championship) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (the NWA International Tag Team Championship).

Ueda's whole deal was weapons and blood. The pic is from an '85 singles match vs. Killer Khan.

And this one is from an '85 singles match between Singh and Choshu:

So from the top of the card on down, and including several guys on my kayfabe JWA roster, there is a long and undeniable tradition of hardcore/bloodbath type matches in Japan from the 60s right up until our kayfabe timeline of 1986....

So, why might the No DQ First Blood Elimination match understandably feel out of place in our kayfabe JWA???

So, why might the No DQ First Blood Elimination match understandably feel out of place in our kayfabe JWA???

Well, it could be because Giant Baba is the Kayfabe Owner and President of the Revived JWA... and a lot of us mainly know Baba from his sublime booking and promoting of AJPW in the late 80s and early 1990s. Not exactly a ton of bloody gimmick matches in that legendary run.

Plus, we generally think of Baba as wrestling slow-paced technical classics with good mat work against guys like Billy Robinson or The Destroyer... or as the smiling, slighty goofy and awkward mid-card comedy wrestler of his later career.

BUT:

Baba could (and often did) flat-out brawl with the best of them. From his beginning with the actual JWA in the early 60s until He started phasing imself out of the main event scene in the eraly 1980s, Baba regularly wore the crimson mask in matches with guys like Blassie, Abdullah, and The Sheik...

In kayfabe-breaking terms, I want to add a few more bloody brawls and gimmick matches to my cards, from time to time, in order to give myself a broader range of story-telling tools (since I'm telling almost all of my stories in the ring, without promos, skits, or commentary); and I want to allow for the widest variety of visiting gaijin workers.

In real world terms, I'm 100 per cent confident in saying that violent, bloody brawls were absolutely a part of the Japanese Pro Wrestling Scene in 1986, and as for the Armchair Booking version of JWA specifically, in purely kayfabe terms :

1) Baba was in fact capable of being a flat-out bloody brawler himself. Guys like Ueda were primarily brawlers, and even respected technicians like Fujinami could bleed a gusher from time to time. My roster is loaded with guys who can work this kind of match and work it well.

2) As mentioned above, Onita didn't start up FMW until 1989... but probably what inspired him to go in that direction after recovering from his injury was his participation in the insane 1981 version of the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl, which was fought between Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert and Atsushi Onita and...

...

...MASA FUCHI!!!

(Masa Fuchi is a member of the kayfabe JWA roster).

In his excellent post in the General Chatter thread, dawho5 said:

gordi

You have a great grasp of the Japanese scene at the time. I like how you put Tenryu above Jumbo. It shows you are willing to upset the apple cart as it were and rebuild it a different way. I also like how you use that idea in the kind of matches you present. As JWA it makes sense that you can do these things. No major competition. Your detailed show write-ups really capture the way a match goes without killing any enjoyment, which is a hard thing to do. I look at your booking as something like Abby becoming best buddies with Baba and getting in his ear about the kind of matches he ran.

...and that was precisely my thought process when I decided to go with a bloody brawl while Cactus Jack was in town. Except... not so much Abby getting in Baba's ear, but Fuchi

dawho5 made another excellent point when he mentioned JWA has no major competition. I think that gives "us" freedom to take risks, and also maybe gives us more power where negotiating with the TV networks is concerned. .

I think part of the reason we see a lot less blood in AJPW and NJPW from the late 80s onward might have been the need to appease the TV networks. I know that Tokyo Broadcasting Systems banned Cage Matches from TV in the 70s after some of Rusher Kimura's fights became too violent. Who knows, though... worst case scenario, I just keep the bloodbatchs as arena-only matches and don't show them on TV.

dawho also mentions being willing to upset the apple cart as it were and rebuild it a different way. This is absolutely essential to me. If I wanna read about what actually happened in AJPW and NJPW in 1986, i totally can. Armchair booking is way, way more fun for me if I can move away from that (while respecting certain aspects of it, like hierarchical booking and the slow advancement of rookies an so on).

Anyway, no offense intended to anyone who disagrees. I love getting feedback, whether positive or negative and everyone absolutely has the right to disagree with what I am doing and to tell me about it.

But I feel like I have ample justification in both kayfabe and real world terms for using more blood and more gimmick matches (Cage matches and Texas Death matches and the like... not exploding barbed wire or cactus and scorpion type stuff) and I wanted to let everyone know that I actually put a fair bit of thought into booking that match.

... I really dug the AWA challenge match, and Jumbo blowing it for his team by pushing too hard was really good as well.

That AWA match is something I would love to have seen in real life. One of the best things about his project is being able to write stuff like that up and also read what everyone else comes up with along those lines (Like Hogan vs Hansen)

Once WrestleMania concludes we should talk about some WWF talent coming over to get some more exposure.

Absolutely! I am totally looking forward to having some of your guys to come over here. It's inspiring to try to come up with the right match for the right gaijin visitor.

In the little that I have seen, Japan always seemed so creative to me with their in ring stuff and you do a great job of that. The No DQ Blood Elimination Match is a great example of that. Keep up all the hard work.

Thanks! In those two long posts above I go into a lot of detail about my thinking on that exact subject

Agreed on everything. The main event was awesome.

Thanks! The Jumbo Saga is my first real attempt at long-term Japan-type in-ring storytelling. There is lots more still to come.

The No DQ Blood elimination match was insane! Love Hickerson and his towel spots LOL. Really liked the AWA Challenge match. Very technical and hard hitting The main event was great! Poor Jumbo just cant catch a break. Your matches are so realistic, great job!

I love writing for Hickerson. He's a big, tough guy who can really work and who can get away with being a bit goofy, too... kind of like Foley, perhaps.

Amazing card from top to bottom! Loving the angle with Jumbo!

I'm really happy so many people mention the Jumbo stuff. His story is my big project this year.

Good history lesson! I knew about the Abby/Sheik stuff, but did not realize that Tiger Jeet Singh was such a big deal. Had all but forgotten the Dump/Chiggy bloodbaths.

In my opinion, Tiger Jeet Singh was no great shakes as a worker, but there is no denying he got his gimmick over in Japan in a big way.

I'm pretty convinced that bloody brawls were a very important part of the history of Puroresu, but it seems like from the late 80s on, that kind of match moved over to indies like FMW and AJPW and NJPW moved away from that.

tl/dr on my long posts above: I wanna experiment with the idea of "What if: Mainstream 80s Japanese Wrestling had kept a bit of a hardcore element here and there?"

It makes a lot of sense to try it due to yeah, you being the only major show in town. You're probably right in your reasoning that the competition between AJPW and NJPW had a lot to do with it. Neither Baba nor Inoki wanted to lose the TV network support because they were trying anything they didn't need.

This makes me think of something Dylan brought up involving pro wrestling being an American export to Japan. It looks to me like it was brought over almost 100% intact and the changes happened due to pressure of competition forcing the promoter's hand based on how you put it. And if you really look at things carefully, what happened when national cable got ahold of the WWF and WCW? Or even ESPN with AWA or the Texas branch of USWA. So in a way that change truly predicted the change in American wrestling. Not the first time Japan was a few years ahead of America on changes to wrestling either.

Wow, what a history lesson about puroresu in its early stages! I had absolutely no clue about that tidbit of Freddie Blassie during that time.

And now, I feel all rejuvenated and happy even though I learned today that the RealHero Archive is being taken down. At least, the All Japan archive will still be available so there'll be that.

Not my beloved Osaka Pro archive That is heartbreaking news.

The early history of Puroresu is absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend the episode of the (David Lee) Roth Show where, astonishingly, the Van Halen front man goes on for over 20 fascinating minutes about that very topic:

It makes a lot of sense to try it due to yeah, you being the only major show in town. You're probably right in your reasoning that the competition between AJPW and NJPW had a lot to do with it. Neither Baba nor Inoki wanted to lose the TV network support because they were trying anything they didn't need.

This makes me think of something Dylan brought up involving pro wrestling being an American export to Japan. It looks to me like it was brought over almost 100% intact and the changes happened due to pressure of competition forcing the promoter's hand based on how you put it. And if you really look at things carefully, what happened when national cable got ahold of the WWF and WCW? Or even ESPN with AWA or the Texas branch of USWA. So in a way that change truly predicted the change in American wrestling. Not the first time Japan was a few years ahead of America on changes to wrestling either.

Yeah, for sure. It's not just the early history of wrestling in Japan that's fascinating to think about. It's mind-boggling to ponder how we ended up where we are now, with so many wrestling styles and promotions. I think it was Jerry Seinfeld who once asked "If Pro Wrestling didn't exist, could you invent it?"